The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus that allows low cost transmission of facsimile signals over a long distance such as to overseas by using the Internet communications network and a system including the facsimile apparatus.
In the recent years, facsimile apparatuses have become widespread throughout the world. In the prior art, a facsimile 1 on the transmit side and a facsimile 2 on the receive side have been connected through a public telephone network as shown in FIG. 1. For this reason, when making long distance communication with overseas, it has been necessary to transmit facsimile signals including, for instance, Group 3 facsimile image data over high communications-cost public telephone networks.
Recently, therefore, in order to reduce communications cost over a long distance, transmission service is gaining popularity in which an Internet facsimile transmission service company (xe2x80x9cservice companyxe2x80x9d) transmits facsimile signals to a facsimile apparatus of the destination via the Internet communications network.
However, in order to establish connection with the service company, as it is necessary for a user to manually input and transmit telephone number for connecting to the service company, registration number of the user, facsimile number of the destination, and a protocol for connecting to the service company, the process becomes complicated and currently available facsimile apparatuses in general are not designed to allow simple transfer of such information.
The present invention addresses the above discussed problems and provides a facsimile apparatus having a function to simplify operation by the user of the Internet facsimile.
To attain the above objective, the first implementation of the facsimile apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises a memory means to store at least the telephone number for connecting to a server of the service company which provides image communications service through the Internet communications network, registration number of the user of the service company, and a protocol for connecting with the Internet facsimile transmission service company, and a registered data transmission button, wherein, by pressing the registered data transmission button, connection is established with a server of the Internet facsimile transmission service company based on the memory stored in the above-mentioned memory means, processing for connection with the Internet communications network is carried out, and facsimile signals can be transmitted to the destination facsimile apparatus via the Internet communications network, thus enabling the user to transmit facsimile signals with ease via the Internet communications network.
The second implementation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention allows the user, in the event, registration number of the user of the above service company is not stored in the first implementation because an Internet facsimile transmission service contract has not been closed between the user and the Internet facsimile transmission service company, a previously registered telephone number of the Internet facsimile transmission service company for newly closing a contract whereby Internet facsimile transmission service can be provided can be transmitted, thus enabling start of facsimile communication with ease without the trouble of closing a contract.
The third implementation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention is capable of storing in the memory the facsimile number of the destination in the above-mentioned first implementation, allowing transmission of data of facsimile number of the destination as stored in the memory as the facsimile number of the destination by pressing the above-mentioned registered data transmitting button, thus further simplifying the operation of facsimile transmission by this implementation.
The first implementation of the facsimile system of the present invention comprises an originating facsimile apparatus based on the first implementation of the above-mentioned facsimile apparatus, an originating server of the service company which provides image communications service via the Internet communications network, and a destination server of the service, company which provides image communications service via the Internet communications network, wherein the originating server comprises at least a first conversion means for converting image data of the facsimile signals from the above-mentioned originating facsimile in response to the incoming signals from the above-mentioned originating facsimile apparatus into image data of own format for Internet transfer, searching and selecting means to select the above-mentioned destination server located close to the, destination facsimile apparatus based on the facsimile number of the destination as sent from the originating facsimile apparatus, and first transmitting means for transmitting to the selected destination server the own format image data as converted by the first conversion means and the facsimile number of the destination facsimile apparatus, and wherein the destination server comprises, at least second conversion means for converting the image data converted to own format by the first conversion means of the originating server into a facsimile format conforming to the destination facsimile, and second transmitting means for connecting through a telephone line to the destination facsimile based on the facsimile number of the destination facsimile apparatus as received from the originating server and for transmitting an image which has been converted by the second conversion means into the facsimile format conforming to the destination facsimile.
In this facsimile system, when facsimile image data is transmitted to the originating server by using the first implementation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention, the first conversion means of the originating server converts it into own format image data conforming to Internet transfer, and transmits it to the destination server together with the facsimile number of the destination facsimile. Also the destination server converts the image data as transferred after being converted into own format by means of the second conversion means into the facsimile format conforming to the destination facsimile, calls and connects to the destination facsimile by the destination facsimile number, and transmits the image data. As a result, advantages are obtained in that the user can transmit facsimile signal via the Internet communications network with ease, and the destination facsimile can be a usual facsimile or a usual telephone-facsimile combination without having a special structure for Internet connection, and no special operation is required when receiving an incoming call.
Also, by employing the second or third implementation of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention in the originating facsimile apparatus of the facsimile system of the present invention, advantages of the respective apparatus implementation can be obtained.